KUALA LUMPUR: The newly established NewCo, a joint venture (JV) between Italian energy company, Eni S.p.A and Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS), is set to launch eight new upstream projects across Indonesia and Malaysia within the next three years as part of a large-scale regional gas development drive.
Eni chief executive officer Claudio Descalzi said the first phase would comprise four projects in Indonesia and four in Malaysia, alongside additional drilling to test new exploration prospects.
“In the next three years, we are going to start eight new projects based on the existing reserves: four in Indonesia, four in Malaysia.
“We are going to drill wells to test additional exploration reserves that we can further add value to this project,” he told Bernama in an interview recently.
Eni and PETRONAS have recently reached a binding agreement to establish NewCo, a 50:50 JV, combining their respective assets in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Both parties planned for an initial investment of US$15bil over the next five years in the new entity that will manage 19 assets, comprising 14 assets in Indonesia and five in Malaysia.
Descalzi said the formation of NewCo would unlock significant gas potential and strengthen energy security across the region.
He added that the partnership builds on major discoveries exceeding 15 trillion cubic feet (TCF) in Indonesia and a combined 50 TCF of gas resources across Indonesia and Malaysia.
Descalzi said the JV structure enabled Eni and PETRONAS to pool resources and access external financing to accelerate project execution without straining balance sheets.
He added that NewCo would begin operations with more than 300,000 barrels per day of production and proven reserves of three billion barrels, with three billion barrels of proved (P1) reserves, and an additional 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources to be developed.
“The 15 billion is the first stage, it is based just on the P1 reserves,” Descalzi said.
He added that the JV’s operations will leverage existing infrastructure in both countries, including liquefied natural gas facilities such as Bontang in Indonesia, enabling a faster time-to-market and lower overall development cost.
Descalzi said Indonesia and Malaysia are strategically located to meet surging regional gas demand from fast-growing economies, including China, Japan, India, Vietnam and South Korea, where natural gas is increasingly used to replace coal for power generation.
South-East Asia offers a low-risk environment for upstream operations due to strong partnerships, established infrastructure and growing market demand, he said.
